5 hidden health indicators to watch on your iPhone and Apple Watch

March 3, 2023

By Kim Komando

A 67-year-old woman in Maine was receiving warnings from her Apple Watch that her heart was in atrial fibrillation. After three nights of warnings, she went to the emergency room and doctors found a tumor in her heart. Here’s what happened next.

Irregular rhythm notifications are just one of the health features built into Apple devices that could monitor your health and save your life. Here are five hidden health indicators to watch on your iPhone and Apple Watch.

1. Steadiness

When carrying your iPhone in a pocket, the Health app uses custom algorithms to assess your balance, strength and gait. You’ll receive a notification if your level of steadiness drops.

Here’s how to set up Steadiness Notifications:

• Open the Health app and tap your profile at the top right. If you don’t see your picture or initials, tap Summary or Browse at the bottom of the screen, then scroll to the top of the screen.
• Tap Health Checklist.
• Tap Set Up for Walking Steadiness Notifications and follow the onscreen instructions.

2. Heart rate variability

Heart rate variability, or HRV, measures time intervals between heartbeats when you’re at rest. Your Apple Watch checks for irregular rhythms, sends you a notification and records the data in the Health app.

Irregular rhythms could indicate atrial fibrillation (Afib), where the heart’s upper chambers beat out of sync with the lower chambers.

Here’s how to check up on your HRV data:

• Open the Health app on your iPhone.
• Tap Browse in the bottom right corner.
• Tap Heart > Heart Rate Variability.
• At the top, choose to view your data by day, week, month, half-year and year.

Here’s how to enable irregular rhythm notifications:

• Open the Health app on your iPhone
• Tap Browse in the bottom right corner.
• Tap Heart > Irregular Rhythm Notifications.
• Once enabled, turn irregular rhythm notifications on or off in the Apple Watch app on your iPhone:
  • Open the Apple Watch app, tap the My Watch tab, then go to Heart > Irregular Rhythm.

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3. High and low heart rates

Your Apple Watch checks for low and high heart rates that could indicate an underlying condition. You’You’lleive a notification when your heart rate goes above 120 bpm or drops below 40 bpm while inactive for 10 minutes.

You can turn on heart rate notifications when you first open the Heart Rate app on your Apple Watch or at any time from your iPhone:

• Open the Apple Watch app on your iPhone.
• Tap the My Watch tab, then tap Heart.
• Tap High Heart Rate and choose a BPM. 
• Tap Low Heart Rate and choose a BPM.

4. Respiratory rate

Your respiratory rate refers to the number of times you breathe in a minute. This goes up as you exercise and down as you sleep. When you wear your Apple Watch to bed, it automatically measures and records your respiratory rate.

When your respiratory rate is significantly higher or lower than usual while you sleep, it could indicate illness or a health condition.

To track your respiratory rate, you’ll need to set up the sleep features on your iPhone:

• Open the Health app on your iPhone.
• Tap Get Started under Set Up Sleep and tap Next.
• Follow the onscreen prompts.
• Turn on Track Sleep with Apple Watch. This option is available during setup if you’ve paired your Apple Watch with your iPhone beforehand. If you pair your Apple Watch after setup, you can turn on Track Sleep with Apple Watch later.

To view your respiratory heart rate:

• Open the Health app on your iPhone.
• Tap Browse at the bottom right of the screen.
• Tap Respiratory > Respiratory Rate.

5. Activity

Your Apple Watch and iPhone turn fitness into a game. Activity Rings track your movement, exercise and time on your feet. The rings fill up as you go through the motions.

You can check your daily progress and activity history on your iPhone at any time:

• Open the Fitness app on your iPhone.
• Tap Activity in the Summary tab to see details about your activity.
• Tap the calendar to see your progress for the month.
• To see more details, tap a day.
• To get information about a workout, such as your route or total distance, scroll down to the Workouts section, then tap the item.

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